warmup soccer game, inevitably with another participant, Daugavins would let out a gleeful screech.

“Newwwwwww playyyyerrrr!”

Does this sound like a man moping about a long personal slump? Or like a happy-go-lucky team guy?

Hours later, in that same building, Daugavins emerged from the back room to face the media. Under his black T-shirt, high on the back, was a huge ice pack. At least that’s what the bulge had to be. He had just unloaded the piano that was on his shoulders in a 6-2 win over the Florida Panthers.

“It felt great,” he said when asked about the relief of ending the drought. “Because it gave us a 2-1 lead, first of all. And with my dad here, it’s kind of special. It was his first time watching me play pro here. It was a great feeling.”

When asked again about the slump-buster, and his assist on Daniel Alfredsson’s 20th goal of the season, Daugavins again looked uncomfortable talking about himself.

“I didn’t score for awhile,” he shrugged. “That was a good feeling, I guess.”

Armands Daugavins, a rink manager for Rigo Dynamo of the KHL, had flown from Latvia for the Senators annual fathers trip.

“First of all, he’s going to say great win, obviously, then he’ll tell me great game,” Daugavins predicted of Armands. “He’ll be happy for me. He just enjoys being here and watching NHL hockey. It’s tough waking up every morning at 2:30 in Latvia and watching it on TV. It’s not as nice. Here now you can watch it live and see a lot of great hockey players, not only me. You can see all these players and see real life how it is.

“He came to watch me over in the (OHL), but he never watched me in Binghamton or here. Finally, cool for him to see it live, pro hockey. He was giving it to me last night in the room, saying ‘Oh I spent all this time flying, you better score.’ ”

Daugavins has no interest in keeping his dad around as a good-luck charm, however. He doesn’t want Armands to become his full-time road roomie.

“No, I didn’t like him, he was snoring in the morning,” said Daugavins. “I couldn’t sleep well.”

Daugavins, you’ve read and heard, is popular among his teammates. A large part of that is his personality. But he’s also had the welts to show what kind of sacrifices he makes on the ice. Team success is more important to him than the personal kind.

“Obviously, I try to work hard,” said Daugavins. “Obviously, I know scoring is not my main job, it’s to play good defence and PK, mix in a couple of big blocked shots. It’s nice to score. You still try to play offence, but my priorities are defence.”

It’s going to be very interesting to see what kind of personnel changes are made before the trade deadline at the end of the month. There are already two veterans, a couple of team-first leaders named Matt Carkner and Zenon Konopka, who have been watching as healthy scratches while the losses have turned into wins. They are aching to get back in and be a part of it. And isn’t Jesse Winchester due back from his concussion soon, too?

So who comes out? Jim O’Brien had been skating around and working hard, but accomplishing nothing, until he scored his first goal in Florida. Brian Lee used to be the designated sitter, but he has been solid on the blue line, and against the Panthers recorded his first multi-point game with a pair of assists. He deserves to stay in the lineup, too.

Thing is, everybody is going to want the Senators to add a piece or two to give them a better chance of making the playoffs, then succeeding when getting there. But a big part of their success thus far has been because of the role players.

Do you bring in a goal scorer, if you can, and use him instead of Daugavins, who now has four in 52 games?

Not unless you’re ready to take a big risk, you don’t.

In case you haven’t noticed, the Senators don’t have one of the top rosters in the league. On paper, they aren’t one of the best eight teams in the Eastern Conference.

What they are is a well-coached team that has one very important intangible.